When I was 23 years old, with 1 year of active duty experience, I was tasked with conducting an annual evaluation of my platoon sergeant. He was 35 years old, had 14 years of service in the Army, married, and had three children. What could go wrong? Why would he even listen to me?
The Army had a process for this; a form that included quarterly goals and check-ins. I started using that form, not knowing that very few leaders were following this process. As the “butter bar” (term of endearment for the young military officer), it was effective to have these conversations more frequently because my direct reports really cared what got written on their annual evaluations. Even before I had built positive relationship capital with them, this frequent, semi-formal feedback had a huge impact on their performance and subsequently the whole unit.
I carried this practice into corporate America, then the non-profit sector, and into my own small business. Bottom line, humans crave feedback!
They want to know where they STAND.
They want to know you have a PLAN for them.
You don’t need an HR department to implement this simple, powerful, and potentially life-changing feedback process. Practice giving the semi-formal evaluation feedback that your team needs (we know you have somebody in mind), and we guarantee it will xcelerate their talent development and performance.
Download this free 1-page process and sample feedback form HERE. 100% money back guarantee (see what I did there😏).